Coordinating regional airspace no threat to Basic Law, says Hong Kong transport chief
Anthony Cheung Bing-leung says measures would not override the principle of 'one country, two systems'.
The transport chief on Wednesday dismissed concerns that a plan to coordinate regional airspace with mainland authorities would be unconstitutional.
Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, the secretary for transport and housing, said enacting such measures would not override the principle of "one country, two systems".
Cheung, speaking at a seminar on the controversial third runway project organised by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said a new runway at Chek Lap Kok airport was crucial to the city's competitiveness.
There have been concerns over whether Shenzhen would cede some of its airspace to Hong Kong to allow the third runway to handle 102 flights an hour - a matter aviation officials said they were working to resolve with mainland authorities in a plan forged in 2007.
But pilot Jeremy Tam Man-ho, a Civic Party member, had warned that the mainland would not allow Hong Kong to control its airspace and that allowing mainland air traffic authorities to control flights in Hong Kong would violate the Basic Law.
Cheung said: "The final goal of the plan is to standardise the planning, the standards and procedures. But the standardising we are talking about here will not override the 'one country, two systems' [principle], as the entire nation has to obey the Basic Law."
He also addressed concerns about whether the plan could be achieved by 2020, saying each side had an incentive to enhance coordination of airspace to create more room for their growth.
"The plan forged in 2007 was not for Hong Kong alone, but the development of the five airports in the Pearl River Delta," he said.
Cheung also rejected accusations that the financing model to build the HK$140 billion third runway was an attempt to bypass the Legislative Council. He said the Airport Authority was considering letting the public purchase the bonds it would issue to help finance the project.
